a·gen·tic a·gil·i·ty: blog

Explains how the Sprint Goal serves as an immediate tactical objective in Scrum, guiding teams toward strategic Product Goals and maximising value …

Explains why relying on story points and velocity signals team immaturity in Scrum, and highlights better ways to build confidence and predictability …

Explains how to gather key metrics for evidence-based management in software organisations, focusing on value delivery, time to market, and ability to …

Validating product value requires releasing features to real users in production, gathering feedback, and measuring usage, satisfaction, and business …

Explains how product goals serve as intermediate strategic goals, guiding agile organisations through uncertainty using experimentation, outcomes, and …

Explains why regular backlog refinement is essential in Scrum, how to make backlog items ready for Sprint Planning, and ways to measure effective …

Explains how to create, apply, and improve a Definition of Done (DoD) in Scrum to ensure software quality, transparency, and consistent delivery of …

Explains why staggered iterations harm software delivery, increasing technical debt, and recommends cross-functional teams, test-first, and working …

Explains how adopting test-first practices in software development improves quality, reduces bugs, and enables confident continuous delivery by …

Professional Scrum Teams prioritise software quality, accountability, and continuous improvement, ensuring each release is reliable, defect-free, and …

Explains how the Sprint Goal guides Scrum teams by providing a clear, shared objective for each Sprint, ensuring focus, transparency, and alignment …

Explores how agile teams can achieve predictable software delivery through quality focus, effective release planning, and continuous improvement, …

Defines the Product Goal as a clear, measurable objective in the Product Backlog that guides Scrum Teams, ensuring focus, transparency, and alignment …

Summarises key changes in the 2020 Scrum Guide, including simplified language, self-managing teams, and new commitments for goals, backlog, and …

Explores how advances in technology have redefined co-location, emphasising the importance of video presence for effective online communication and …

Change in organisations is a continuous, evolutionary process driven by experimentation and adaptation, not a one-time transformation or fixed end …

Explains why rejecting individual backlog items at Sprint Review is a misconception, highlighting Scrum’s focus on learning, collaboration, and …

Explores how resistance to change and outdated mindsets hinder organisational agility, stressing the need for adaptable, forward-thinking teams in …

Explores how organisations adopt SAFe for agility but risk rigid bureaucracy, highlighting the need for genuine business evolution over prescriptive …

Step-by-step guide to setting up Microsoft Teams for live virtual training, covering Azure AD, Microsoft 365, guest access, external identities, and …

Guidance on running live virtual Scrum classes using Microsoft Teams and Mural, focusing on tech setup, safe collaboration, self-organising teams, and …

Explores how live virtual classrooms have become effective alternatives to in-person training, highlighting benefits, challenges, and the shift to …

Explores how agile teams use DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering to deliver high-quality software rapidly, with insights from Microsoft’s Azure …

Explores the origins of Taylorism in modern management, its impact on workplace practices, and how to identify ineffective or superficial Agile …

Explores why most organisations struggle to scale agile practices, highlighting key principles and strategies used by rare, successful companies to …

Martin Hinshelwood answers questions on integrating UX into Scrum teams, sharing practical advice from his experience teaching Professional Scrum with …

Explores the benefits and challenges of collocation in Scrum teams, comparing face-to-face collaboration with remote work, and offering practical …

The Definition of Done can evolve to improve quality but should not be weakened or vary per backlog item. Consistency ensures transparency and …

Guidance on resolving conflict in Scrum Teams, including facilitation techniques, escalation steps, and the Scrum Master's role in fostering healthy …

Explains how a Product Owner can manage Sprint Planning across multiple Scrum teams in Nexus by delegating, using area or team owners, and maintaining …

Explains when a Scrum Master should remove impediments, focusing on team self-sufficiency, true impediments, and supporting team growth within Scrum …

Guidance on addressing issues with multiple Product Owners in Scrum, highlighting the need for clear backlog ownership and accountability to ensure …

Explains how to create reliable forecasts in agile projects by using flow metrics like cycle time and throughput, and shifting from project-based to …

Technical skills are not required to be a Scrum Master, but understanding technical, business, and organisational contexts helps Scrum Masters better …

Explores whether Scrum Teams should adopt No Estimates, comparing estimation methods, team maturity, and metrics like cycle time, throughput, WIP, and …

Explains how to integrate Design Sprint activities within Scrum by embedding design and UX work into regular sprints and backlog refinement, avoiding …

The US Department of Defence now requires agile, iterative software development, ending mandatory waterfall methods and influencing global government …

Learn how Kanban practices can be integrated into Professional Scrum teams to improve workflow, transparency, and delivery using the new Scrum.org PSK …

Explains how Scrum teams can strategically allow unfinished work to flow across Sprint boundaries, enhancing throughput, responsiveness, and …

Explains how involving everyone in Professional Scrum training fosters organisational agility, breaks down silos, and empowers teams to drive …

Learn how to achieve organisational agility by tailoring change to your unique context, building a guiding coalition, and engaging all stakeholders in …

Summary of 2017 conferences, talks, and training on Agile, DevOps, Scrum, and team leadership, with insights from global workshops and upcoming course …

Learn key practices for adopting modern source control and DevOps, including automation, release pipelines, and team collaboration to improve software …

Professional Scrum training introduced Ghana Police officers to Agile methods, using hands-on sprints to support organisational change and …

Explores the Ghana Police Service’s shift to a modern, professional model using servant leadership, agile frameworks, and strategic change to restore …

Explains how Scrum and Continuous Delivery work together, highlighting their complementary roles in agile software development and practical …

VSTS Sync Migration Tool adds new features and bug fixes for bulk work item updates, project migration, query transfer, and improved notifications for …

Explores why professionalism and adherence to engineering excellence are essential for effective Scrum teams, highlighting common pitfalls of amateur …

Explains why Sprints are valuable even with continuous delivery, highlighting benefits for planning, feedback, communication, and predictability in …

Guidance on selecting the best process template for team projects in TFS or VSTS, highlighting why the Scrum template reduces friction for agile teams …

Explains the UK Government Cloud First policy, its mandate for public cloud adoption in central government, and challenges faced by public sector …

Explores the contrast between unprofessional "kalabule" practices and true professionalism in Agile software development, emphasising core values and …

Open-source tools for migrating work items, test plans, teams, and project structures between TFS and VSTS, supporting consolidation and flexible data …

Explains how to scale Professional Scrum across multiple teams using Visual Studio Team Services, covering automation, Nexus integration, and …

Learn how to automate code synchronisation between VSTS/TFS and GitHub, enabling seamless DevOps workflows for open-source projects with flexible …

Step-by-step guide to migrating a Codeplex repository to GitHub, covering tool limitations, using Git-TF for code and history, and converting wiki …

Learn how to sync Windows special folders like Documents and Desktop to OneDrive for Business, ensuring automatic cloud backup and easy access across …

Step-by-step guide to moving OneDrive for Business files to a different drive in Windows without re-downloading, freeing up space and preserving file …

Agile in Africa 2016 brought together experts in Accra, Ghana to promote genuine Agile practices, share knowledge, and support local development …

Explains how to apply and manage branch policies in TFVC using regular expressions, enabling code reviews, branch locks, and work item requirements …